Best of Boston

Owned by a Neapolitan family, this trattoria offers a delicious gustatory holiday along the southern Italian coastline—right smack dab on Main Street in Waltham. Most dishes and all of the breads are cooked in the wood-burning oven, a technique that adds rusticity and a faint smoky flavor. Traditional handmade pastas like the tiny gnocchi are airy puffs encasing a wild-mushroom filling. A less traditional but perfectly cooked medium-rare steak gets a Mediterranean twist with potato gâteau and sun-dried tomato pesto. Whether it’s a minivacation you crave or just a damned good meal, look no further.